More Illegal Activity -- Filling in Wetlands

[redrocket]

i'm an environmentalist, not an animal lover.

 

[SoWalSally]

http://www.epaperedition.com/Defaul...Sun/2007/03/03&EntityId=Ar00104&ViewMode=HTML

An inspector with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection ordered thousands of pounds of illegal fill dirt to be removed from a Point Washington wetlands parcel last week less than 10 days after its placement. The dirt was placed on the property as part of an initial development project.
?We did a site visit Feb. 22 after [Walton County] code enforcement issued the stop work order,? said DEP spokesperson Sally Cooey. ?In talks with the contractor and a consultant, all fill that had been put in place had to be removed.?

 

[Smiling JOe]

SoWalSally, thanks for the link. I guess the Blues were building a driveway to the Bay, because there is nothing there but water, Sawgrass and the Bay. The so-called driveway would have been farther onto the property than house would be allowed to be built, even it were built on pilings as the Federal Permit stated it would have to be.

The Blues should have done a little research before dumping all of that dirt because there is a County Watchdog living close by.

I incorrectly noted the street name as Indian Grass for this other wetland damage in my first post on this thread. The correct street name is SilverLeaf.


Hey SoWalSally, Feel free to use any of the stories I bring up on here in your articles for the Sun, but do your own DD, and don't take my word for it. I think this additional lot of Wetland Destruction, in this week's addition, after the last two issues of the property which you linked, might help educate some people to think better about their choices.

 

[mf]

that is just tragic :nono1: thanks for keeping us informed!
and, frankly, i don't know what the point is. certainly not greed. it's bad marketing. the real money is to be had by appealing to the high-end homebuyer who prefers a natural setting to tacky tropical landscaping.

[/quote]

 

[rapunzel]

The tragic thing is that you never know what the effects of this big pile of dirt will be to the other houses and lots in the area. This sandpile backs up to a cute little house that is for sale. I once lived in a neighborhood where all the backyads sloped down to a little boggy area at the very back. I planted things that liked wet feet and naturalized the area, while my neighbor tried to grow golf course perfect lawn. Finally, in frustration, he dumped a bunch of fill dirt in his back yard one night. He finally had lush green grass, but my yard (and yards 3 or 4 houses up) turned in to a mushy swamp. A good rain would result in standing water for 2 or 3 days.

There is no way to know what the impact of what these people did on Silverleaf will have on the land for which their neighbors paid non-wetlands prices. In an area where flooding has to be a major concern for everyone, they have changed the run-off patterns. When this behavior is widespread, it totally negates flood zones. It's not just an environmental travesty, it is stealing the security of dry land from the neighbors. What these people did on Silverleaf has driven away potential buyers from the house behind it and most likely lowered the value of that house. That is something that even in the pro-developer political climate of Walton County should matter.

I applaud the Walton Sun for reporting on these issues, and hope they will follow up with articles about what happens to these parcels in the future. We need to hold officials accountable, because this would not be happening if people weren't profiting from it.

 

[Beachlover2]

Just saw a thing on Dateline last week about a guy who filled in the spillway on his property in Kauai. As a result he flash flooded out his neighbors below and killed a few people - Very Sad. Even though he had been red -tagged he iused his influence to avoid inspections etc.

Always should think about how your actions effect others.

 

[florida girl]

So you like it natural?


A phone conversation between Skeet (Mosquito) and Stag (Stagnant Water) was over heard the other day, and it went something like this.

Skeet: Hey, Stag, this is Skeet. Guess what? We?ve got some more party spots!
Stag: Relax, DEP?s done it. That means it?s a done deal! Cool dude! We can party to our heart?s content. TDC keeps bringing folks in, you know, along with all those folks who think wetlands are so great.
Skeet: Security? Hey, those folks keep coming in who think it?s terrible to mess up our home. If they only knew. Ha, ha! I?ve got more blood than I can drink myself, plenty for all my kids. We?re having a very good season!
Stag: For me? Don?t worry. Plenty of still water. They don?t want to touch it. They think they are saving the land for their children. If they only knew my water will kill their children! Just wait for another hurricane or big storm. I?ll get spilled out!
Skeet: Oh, what a time we?re having. Looking for something big out of this, maybe another plague or something. Remember the one we had with malaria some years back? Yeah, we hit a lot with that one, most folks now don?t even know about it! We?ve had several rounds with spinal meningitis, aids, and what about West Nile Virus? But folks today just think that medicine can cure everything. They don?t think they need to do anything to clean up their land. Yea, the days when the Mosquito Control was a real threat, sure glad people don?t realize minnows eat us! Let them keep the puddles wet and stagnant!
Stag: Crazy? Yeah, so let?s party!

 

[Rita]

So you like it natural?.....................

Re: The Skeet/Stag Joke.
:roll: This Skeet/Stag Joke seems rather silly and I would hope readers would read it with a huge grain of salt.

Or am I missing something here?
Aren?t wetlands actually a natural way to store water and act sorta like a natural detention pond. If the uplands surrounding the wetland areas are not messed up by development, then the wetland they drain into should act as a filter for runoff materials before they have a chance to enter bodies of water. A functioning wetland should actually enhance water quality before it enters whatever water body it enters.

.

 

[florida girl]

Re: The Skeet/Stag Joke.
:roll: This Skeet/Stag Joke seems rather silly and I would hope readers would read it with a huge grain of salt.

Or am I missing something here?
Aren?t wetlands actually a natural way to store water and act sorta like a natural detention pond. If the uplands surrounding the wetland areas are not messed up by development, then the wetland they drain into should act as a filter for runoff materials before they have a chance to enter bodies of water. A functioning wetland should actually enhance water quality before it enters whatever water body it enters.

.

Perhaps you're missing something.

 

[Bdarg]

Wetlands act as a natural filter to remove nutrients from the runoff so that do not enter such bodies of water as the bay or the gulf. Why does that matter you may ask. When nutrient loads get into bays other water bodies, they cause in high levels of algae bloom. This fouls the water, depletes the O2 in the water, which in turn kills the fish and other fauna in the water body. On the other hand, wetlands make great use of these nutrients, turning them into trees and wildflowers and such.

BTW, mosquitoes, while natural to a wetland, are keep in check by the fauna of the undisturbed wetland, however excess mosquitoes are a good sign of a disturbed wetland.